Monthly Archives: July 2015

The year of 2011 was a year of crosses, for Syon Abbey has ceased to exist.

The closure of the Syon Abbey in 2011 was sad news indeed.

However, as plans are unfolding for the celebrations of the 600th anniversary of its foundation, there is hope that what it represented will live on.

Quietly in her corner, Sister Anne (previously Lady Abbess Anna Maria of Syon Abbey) has been and is busy working towards the preservation of the tradition of Syon Abbey. On the academic-historical level, she is aiding and is aided by scholars from the University of Exeter. The celebrations of the 600th anniversary of the foundation of Syon Abbey is one fruit.

There will be celebrations at Syon Park, the site of the original Syon Abbey in the 15th century. For details please see:

Whilst admitting that ecumenical celebrations may be appropriate at times, I am rather cautious about them. Nevertheless, I am giving details about the events at Syon House to indicate the breadth of the anniversary celebrations.

The 4 days’ long academic program at Darlington Hall is excellent. For details, please see:

Meanwhile, as these celebrations are taking place in England, two Brigittine groups in the USA are also celebrating the Feastday of Saint Birgitta on July 23rd. Once again, we have been invited to the Monastery of the Brigittine Brothers of Amity to celebrate the Feastday altogether and to spend a few days with them. Both the Brigittini Brothers and Brigittini Servitores shall unite themselves with the celebrations in England, for both groups are indebted for the help given to them by Syon Abbey.

As Lady Abbess of Syon Abbey, Sister Anne has welcomed the birth of these two communities in the USA, rejoicing in their birth and aiding their growth. Sister Anne’s support, prayers and advice have been invaluable in the development of my own Brigittine vocation and in developing the Brigittini Servitores Sanctissimi Salvatoris Institute. Neither did she cease to provide her generous help after the closure of Syon Abbey.

Please join me in my prayers that these celebrations on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean will be a source of graces for many and that by the mercy of God our communities will grow in numbers and holiness, thank you for your prayers and God bless you all!

Please see the summary of this event from “Zenit – the world seen from Rome” (zenit.org/) below this editorial. I have underlined in bold two salient points which seem to indicate that this decision could possibly be reversed.

We have until July 17th to ask reconsideration.

Let us therefore learn from the past, when in response to prayer offensives (public and in common) disasters have been averted. The best reference is the victory at Lepanto after a rosary crusade, but it is easy to find innumerable examples of the same positive Divine response to the heartfelt plea of the faithful.

I am inviting my fellow Catholics to join me in putting our shoulders to the wheel and pray, pray and pray. On behalf of the Brigittini Servitores, I have spent the night of Thursday before 1st Friday in in prayer, planning to do the same next Thursday and praying earnestly each day for a good outcome.

I respectfully suggest to those in whose power is to arrange these things to mount prayer offensives, using extra prayers before or after Holy Masses, public rosaries and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, with or without all night adoration.

The United States Supreme Court legalized same-sex “marriage” across the country today. Five of the Supreme Court justices ruled in favor, while four dissented. While the decision will overturn state bans on same-sex “marriages“, it allows opponents of the ruling three weeks to ask for reconsideration.

“They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority ruling.

However, in his dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts argued that the question of same-sex “marriage” had “nothing to do” with the Constitution.

“Whether same-sex marriage is a good idea should be of no concern to us,” he wrote. “Under the Constitution, judges have power to say what the law is, not what it should be.”

“The fundamental right to marry does not include a right to make a State change its definition of marriage,” he continued. “And a State’s decision to maintain the meaning of marriage that has persisted in every culture throughout human history can hardly be called irrational. In short, our Constitution does not enact any one theory of marriage. The people of a State are free to expand marriage to include same-sex couples, or to retain the historic definition.”

Chief Justice Roberts went on to say that majority decision to legalize same-sex “marriage” was an “act of will not legal judgement”. He also questioned whether in a democratic republic, such a decision should be made by the people through their elected representatives “or with five lawyers who happen to hold commissions authorizing them to resolve legal disputes according to law.”

“The Constitution leaves no doubt about the answer,” he concluded.

“A Tragic Error”

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that despite the Supreme Court’s decision, “the nature of the human person and marriage remains unchanged and unchangeable.”

“Just as Roe v. Wade did not settle the question of abortion over forty years ago, Obergefell v. Hodges does not settle the question of marriage today,” he wrote. “Neither decision is rooted in the truth, and as a result, both will eventually fail.”

Archbishop Kurtz called the Supreme Court’s decision “wrong” and immoral”, stressing that it is unjust for the US government “to declare that two people of the same sex can constitute a marriage.”

Citing the Holy Father’s recent encyclical, Laudato Si’, the USCCB President said that protecting the meaning of marriage as the union of one man and one woman “is a critical dimension of the ‘integral ecology’ that Pope Francis has called us to promote.”

“Mandating marriage redefinition across the country is a tragic error that harms the common good and most vulnerable among us, especially children. The law has a duty to support every child’s basic right to be raised, where possible, by his or her married mother and father in a stable home,” he wrote.

Concluding his statement, Archbishop Kurtz encouraged Catholics in the US to continue to move forward in faith, hope and love.

“Faith in the unchanging truth about marriage, rooted in the immutable nature of the human person and confirmed by divine revelation; hope that these truths will once again prevail in our society, not only by their logic, but by their great beauty and manifest service to the common good; and love for all our neighbors, even those who hate us or would punish us for our faith and moral convictions,” he wrote.